Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 12:54 PM) And that right there is a great example of why I'm a Democrat. You believe that if a few people take advantage of modest government benefits as a means to avoid working hard, the program is a terrible failure, no matter how many people might actually use it correctly and have major benefits to their lives by having a safety net. I believe that if a program helps a large number of people stay on their feet and avoid having their lives fall apart when something bad happens to them, if a small fraction of people take unfair advantage of the situation, I can live with that, as long as good is being done. And that's the reason I'm a "Republican." If only your description was how the system actually works. Unfortunately it's not. It's not to help people "stay on their feet" "when something bad happens to them." It's a LIFETIME entitlement program. I have NO qualms whatsoever with giving people TEMPORARY relief when crazy s*** happens in life, but I dunno how you can seriously contend that our welfare system is like that. Which is my main gripe with it. I'm not opposed to some sort of welfare system, but how about one that makes a little sense and doesn't reward complacency? How about one where you have to provide PROOF that you’re not committing criminal acts (like doing drugs) or PROOF that you’re actively seeking a job. Hell, those should be baseline rules and they don’t even exist. And this part - "as long as good is being done" - yeah, the system helps a minority of people who legitimately need the help. The rest are free loaders that have ZERO incentive to get off the system, a system that requires more and more of the rest of societies money. GENERATIONS of people live in public housing and recieve public aid, and they could give two s***s about getting out of that system. And why would they? They're being provided with nearly everything. My favorite example of this was when a single mother of two, living in a $2400/month brand spanking new 2 bed, 2 bath apartment, complained that she had to pay for electricity for the first time in her life (a whopping 30 bucks a month on top of her $150 rent contribution). Oh the horror! And this isn't an isolated incident, the entire Cabrini Green revitilization project is filled with THOUSANDS of people in similiar situations. And the bigger problem with this is that "democrats" seem to think all this stuff actually helps in the long run. All it does has done is create generations of people who feel entitled to get something for free, which is the complete opposite of the mentality they should have. It should be, I'm on my own, but in the unfortunate event that life really screws me good, my incredibly successful and advanced society will help me back on my way. Instead it's, f*** the man, I DESERVE everything. It's not fair all of those other people have more than me! Like my sig says, you better keep working harder, cuz lots of people depend on you.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 12:02 PM) Isn't the job of the DNI specifically to make sure that they have people working on putting things together? You don't think he had that?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 12:16 PM) The amazing thing is, you guys think that the lives people on government benefits live are so sweet. The amazing thing is, you guys think that the lives people on government benefits live are awful, or that only the most destitute of people are on those benefits. Given the effort those people give to get those benefits (none), it truly makes me sick knowing that my hard working, broke, in-debt-up-to-my-eyeballs-ass gets to keep paying for them.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 09:18 AM) But in both 9/11 and the explosive underpants, the dots were available and were not connected. Getting the dots doesn't seem to be a problem. Getting them onto 1 guy's computer screen somewhere appears to be a much bigger issue. then we need better analysts. We can't really expect a director to know about every threat/investigation can we? Do we expect the head of the CPD to know about every crime investigation going on in chicago? I think the failing of 9/11 and the underpants guy was more on analysts (and even then I think that's partly a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation) than on the DNI.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ May 20, 2010 -> 11:27 PM) dude it's free. how can something free be expensive? it can't. because it's free. free house, free food, free health care, free everything. win win. I'm considering quitting my job and applying for the various handouts the rest of the country gets. I'm a white male, so chances are low that i'll be eligible to begin with, but shoot, I'll give it a try. I just bought a house, so I'm just gonna stop paying for it because Obama will help me renegotiate my already good deal to be a better one. I don't have any health insurance now, but i'm glad in a few years I can continue not having insurance, but demand treatment if I get into a serious accident (letting you schmucks pick up the 100k+ tab). I'll get a huge discount on all my food purchases (some free, including the name brand stuff you suckers continue to buy full price). I'm also going to convince my fiance to start popping out kids so we can get two or three times these benefits. American dream FTMFW!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 08:50 AM) I'm trying to figure out what the real story is here and I felt like typing it out. There's been talk of conflict between Blair and CIA head Panetta, not-getting along at a personal level, and most of the White House team, including people in the military, seem to be giving the impression that they're working better with Panetta. So, maybe this is just a personality conflict. But let's look a bit deeper here. The whole point of the DNI position, at least as it was created after the 9/11 comission reforms, was to serve as a clearinghouse for intelligence, as a place there the dots coming from the disparate agencies (FBI, CIA, DOD, NSA, TSA, DHS) could go to be connected. We now seem to have a couple examples of dots going unconnected and lives being put in danger because of it. The most notable example is obviously the underwear bomber, where warnings about the guy went unprocessed until the event had already happened. I'm just wondering whether this is a failure of the guy in that position and his underlings, or whether this is an actual case of it simply being impossible for anyone to do the job that the DNI is supposed to do; break down walls between organizations that really like their walls. I think that's the answer. The reality is, there's no way to protect the country in every possible scenario. No amount of money or man power will achieve that. At best, you hope to have a system whereby the intelligence/defense agencies aren't playing politics but have the same unified visiion. I think any administrator can do that. I don't think it's his responsibility to connect the dots. I think it's his responsibility to make sure the dots are available for actual analysts to connect.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 20, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) http://www.twiceright.com/2010/5/20/union-...us-news/by/alex Jesus. I dunno that I'd have given them more than one warning. A couple of shots in the air and the next aimed at someone ala Clint Eastwood. But you know, these guys are spreading the progressive message, so it's fine and acceptable. Edit: interesting fact about that guy: http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/news/compa...rotest.fortune/

Racist. Uncompassionate. Ugh. Just awful. Typical white man. Don't you see that you have the opportunity responsibility to provide for everyone else in the world?!

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ May 20, 2010 -> 07:50 AM) Gotta love Calipari and his 2.0 team GPA. Seconds after Terrance Jones' press conference to attend Washington, Calipari calls him and lays a guilt trip on him. Jones reconsiders(probably gets envelope from worldwide wes) and commits to Kentucky a few weeks later. Only a piece of s*** like Calipari would do that to a kid after his press conference to attend another school. He did the same thing before with Kanter stealing him from UW. I'm rooting for a heart attack or car accident for Calipari. Can't say I've ever actually truly hated anyone in sports, until Calipari came along. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5203718 Yeah. "Unique." It's called clearly doing something against the rules, but since Kentucky makes too much money, the NCAA ignores it. See: USC football. I hope Kentucky fans enjoy this little 2-3 year run. And after all the s*** hits the fan and the records have to be changed, I'll be there laughing. You get what you pay for in that business. Ask Indiana fans.

QUOTE (Tex @ May 19, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) There is a whole lot of meaningless comments, political posturing, and hollow gestures happening. Yep, like the one going around that this law is going to objectify every brown person because every AZ officer is a racist asshole.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2010 -> 10:55 AM) You really think there wouldn't be other utilities more than happy to make up the difference to the city? So what? A state FINALLY grows some balls and acts for their (its citizens) interests. I like it. Every state should be that way.

Good for them

For my new house I ended up going with ATT's uverse internet (12mbps) and I'll eventually grab DirecTV. In the end it's probably going to cost me an extra 5-10 bucks than just going with Comcast, RCN, or ATT for everything, but I think I'm getting a better cable package and better internet speed for the price. Hopefully I don't have issues with ATT like Tex is having. One thing that pissed me off about ATT was the installation fee. $150 bucks. If i got cable through them, they waive it. I complained that I'm a wireless customer, and have been for the last 7-8 years. I semi-threatened to leave since they weren't making me happy, but they still didn't budge. Gave me a whole "the Uverse is a seperate division from wireless. We can't do any cross incentives" schpeel.

QUOTE (GREEDY @ May 19, 2010 -> 07:25 AM) But if the list didn't matter and was "just chalk", why was Flocke so determined to get all the canidates together and kill them saying numerous times that was his ticket off the island? If it was "just chalk" couldn't Jacob have just erased the line going through someone else's name and made them the canidate? Afterall Flocke did tell Claire not to get on the sub, and she at one time was a canidate (I believe), so he would have found a way for her to die as well. This portion of the story is weak at best. I think the idea is that NotLocke removed the protector of the island, and now he has to remove any potential protector of the island before he can leave. And by leave, I bet he has to go back to the light/water source. He can't kill them directly though, just like he couldn't kill Jacob directly. He uses people (Sayid, Ben, Claire, even Sawyer) to do the killing. An interesting point that I read this morning - how does all of the time travel stuff fit in? Was it even necessary? As for the episode itself, I thought it was fine, but man I hate the Widmore ending. Talk about another completely overblown, hyped-up angle on the show. And what was the pay off? Ben killing him so he can't save his daughter. Yank yank. They created this whole thing where Widmore was this evil guy and wanted all the Oceanic surviors dead and blah blah. And we STILL don't know WHY he came back (Jacob tells him...ok, is that ever going to be explained, or are we just left to assume that he's doing it to protect the island?) or HOW he got back. Ugh. I could have a used a 5 min convo between Widmore and NotLocke, not 5 words.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 18, 2010 -> 10:13 PM) I think the general point of them focusing on minutia for abut 4 1/2 seasons and now just hand-waving it all away with BS is spot on. This is one of my biggest gripes with the show. Either Sepinwall's or the AV Club's reviewer touched on this idea, basically saying that the show is so great because of the tense, mysterious moments they create. It builds and builds to a point where the expectations of the reveal/answer isn't realistic. That's the price they pay for keeping us interested in the show for 6 seasons. But I think that the end of the day we'll get enough to be satisfied, even if it's not exactly what we wanted. The candidate stuff is a good example. Lots of build-up, and then at the end the reveal is that the whole process isn't that special and Jack can just volunteer for it. I'm still not entirely convinced that Jack being the candidate is going to work out though. I see someone like Sawyer or Desmond being a more likely candidate. As to the Jin/Sun angle not working, I disagree. Neither were happy. Jin was forced into being a muscle man and treated his wife like s***. Sun was unhappy and cheated on her husband. We don't know which Kwon was the candidate (assuming Jin), but I think either works on an individual level.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 18, 2010 -> 07:27 AM) all this lebron to chicago hype just seems like the beginning of crushing, bitter disappointment. Agreed. I'm trying to ignore the speculation as much as possible.

a can of salted cashews = heaven.

QUOTE (daa84 @ May 13, 2010 -> 10:25 PM) part of the fun of LOST in the first few seasons was guessing what all this stuff meant....postulating what was important and why...why was it important that Sawyer drank with Jacks dad in Australia? Did the fortune teller Claire saw really know what was going to happen? etc etc....as time went on it became increasingly clear that this stuff just frankly didnt matter....they were props to get us talking about the show, meanwhile the producers went on to provide absolutely nothing essential about the island until the final season. Seemingly the two most important players/characters we just really got to know in this last episode. The more and more weird twists the show added, made me expect the unexpected, and the show lost all sorts of "WOW" factors for me. Its really a shame, the show was SOOOOOO good for 2.5-3 seasons....even the 4th season was pretty good. Seasons 5 and 6 for me have been very average and its just sucks to see something i enjoyed that much end in mediocrity all that said, i absolutely expect the last 2 episodes to blow my socks off If the writers would respond they would say the show has always been about the characters and what happens to them, the mythology and mystery were always secondary. I've been a pretty devote follower of the official podcasts and EW recaps and all that jazz. They've ALWAYS stuck by that thought process. But to me that was their failing. Yes, season 1 and 2 were all about who these people are, what their back story is, and what mystical force brought them all together on the island (I disagree that that stuff didn't matter - it clearly set in motion the idea that they were all somehow connected and chosen people that the island wanted, a theme that has continued throughout). Once Ben emerged though the show became more and more about the history and mythology of the island. It became less about getting to know the characters, because at that point we basically knew all we needed to know. So the audience switched gears and became heavily interested in the Others, in Dharma, in the Ben v. Widmore feud, Alpert, Jacob/Ben, etc. Throw in the time travel element, and we REALLY wanted to know who those people were and what they had been doing on the island before the main Lost characters even got to the island. And from that point on they basically tried to toe the line and give the audience the best of both worlds, but it just hasn't worked. No one I talk to cares at all about the main characters anymore (in fact, most people despite Kate and Jake, think Sayid and Claire have been wasted, have been bored by the sun/jin story romance,etc). I really only care about MIB, Hurley and Sawyer (with minimal interest in Ben/Richard/Miles) I dunno, to me they've really done a poor job of mixing in answers to the mythological questions, while moving the plot line along.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 13, 2010 -> 09:32 PM) Well now I remember why I dont really enjoy the NBA. The calls for Boston are so blatant its hard to even watch. Yeah, these last 5 minutes have been absolutely ridiculous. Mauled on one end = fast break on the other. At LEAST 5 straight trips.

another "here's hoping they explain it though I doubt they will"- Jacob can come/go from the island. When/how/why did that happen?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 12, 2010 -> 11:55 AM) Anecdotes from Chicago police officers that don't work in Juarez don't trump reality. And stop backpedalling. You claimed they were equal no matter how bad border towns are. PARTS are. I'm not backpedaling on s***. My point was/is that the worst parts of these border towns and the worst parts of Chicago are equal - they're lawless and the threat of death is imminent. I never said MEXICO = CHICAGO.

I have a very strong fear that that was the end of any pre-modern times island story. I think that's all they are going to give us. Which was a big mountain of dog s***. They dropped the creativity ball so hard on that one. I could have written a more interesting and entertaining back story for the 2 biggest (and most important) characters of the last 2 seasons (if not the show). And I don't buy that the writers knew who adam/eve were. Adam/Eve were a couple, not a mother and her "son." What a crock of poop.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 12, 2010 -> 09:31 AM) What? You cannot seriously believe that, can you? Juarez has the highest violent crime rate of any city outside a war zone IN THE WORLD. Its multiple times over the murder rates of Chicago, despite being much smaller. That's not even counting the scores of events, as noted earlier in this thread, that basically don't happen in the US. Crime in those border towns is far, far, far worse than anything any US city can throw out there. I'm not arguing that on a grand scale they're similiar. My point was that while i'm sympathetic to those people, there are people who live in our own backyard that are in a similiar situation (i.e., very real threat of death on a daily basis).

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 09:28 AM) Your opinion is just plain wrong. My opinon comes from Chicago police officers that work the worst parts of the cities and tell me that. And by work, I mean they tred into those territories only when it's absolutely necessary because the gangs there control the streets more than cops do. Does it really make a difference which one is worse when in both situations you can get shot simply by being outside?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 12, 2010 -> 09:25 AM) You do realize the police down there are part of the cartel or bought off by them, right? I don't care how bad it is, parts of Chicago (and other parts of the US) are just as bad.